1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to authentication systems, information processing apparatuses and methods, programs, and recording media, and more particularly, to an authentication system, an information processing apparatus and method, a program, and a recording medium for realizing reliable user authentication at low cost.
2. Description of the Related Art
In recent years, authentication systems based on finger vein patterns, palm vein patterns, or the like have been widely used. At the same time, communication technology has been greatly developed in recent years. For example, a communication technique using a human body as a communication medium has been proposed (e.g., see Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-268614).
Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2006-268614 discloses a user authentication technique adoptable on, for example, automatic teller machines (ATMs) at banks. Communication is performed between a mobile device carried by a user and an ATM via the body of the user as a communication medium, and the user's account number stored in the mobile device is transmitted to the ATM. The ATM transmits the received account number and biometric information sensed from the user to a server via a network. The server performs biometric authentication by matching the received biometric information against pre-stored registered biometric information.